Quantcast

Great Blue Heron

Ardea herodiasOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)

Great Blue Heron Portrait
  Copyright 2002-2007 Whatbird.com
Click here for licensing information Splitbar

General

Great Blue Heron: Large, elegant heron with blue-gray back, black sides, and gray-and-white striped belly. Long neck is gray with black-bordered white throat stripe. Head has white face, cap, and black crest. Upper mandible is dark, while lower mandible is yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is duller and without crest. White and intermediate phases occur in Florida. Easily recognized in flight by 6-foot wingspan and neck folded into shape of an S.

Range and Habitat

Great Blue Heron: Breeds locally from coastal Alaska, south-central Canada, and Nova Scotia south to Mexico and West Indies. Spends winters as far north as southern Alaska, central U.S., and southern New England. Preferred habitats include lakes, ponds, rivers, and marshes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kraak", "fraunk", "ar"

Interesting Facts

 Great Blue Herons congregate at fish hatcheries, potentially creating problems for the fish farmers. However, studies have shown that the herons tend to eat sick fish (which spend more time near the surface) that would have died anyway.

 They are the largest herons in North America.

 They eat mainly fish but will also eat other small animals. They have been known to choke to death on prey that is too large.

 A group of herons has many collective nouns, including a "battery", "hedge", "pose", "rookery", and "scattering" of herons.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Great Blue Heron
.
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)_blue
Species Ardea herodias
Length46 - 52 Inches
Wingspan79.5 Inches

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron: Large, elegant heron with blue-gray back, black sides, and gray-and-white striped belly. Long neck is gray with black-bordered white throat stripe. Head has white face, cap, and black crest. Upper mandible is dark, while lower mandible is yellow. Direct flight on steady wing beats.

● Song: "kraak", "fraunk", "ar"

● Foraging & Feeding: Great Blue Heron: Diet consists of fish, frogs, salamanders, lizards, snakes, shrimps, crabs, crayfish, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and aquatic insects; forages while wading, often belly-deep, impaling prey with its sharp, spear-like bill; active night and day.

● Breeding & nesting: Great Blue Heron: Two to seven pale blue or blue green eggs are laid on a shallow platform of sticks lined with finer material, usually built in a tree but sometimes on the ground, or concealed in a reed bed; often nests in colonies. Incubation ranges from 25 to 30 days and is carried out by both adults.

● Similar species: Great Blue Heron: Sandhill Crane is larger, has red cap, dark bill, and does not fold neck in flight. White phase is distinguished from other white egrets by its larger size and combination of yellow bill and yellow legs.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with slow steady wing beats.
Great Blue Heron Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Great Blue Heron: Breeds locally from coastal Alaska, south-central Canada, and Nova Scotia south to Mexico and West Indies. Spends winters as far north as southern Alaska, central U.S., and southern New England. Preferred habitats include lakes, ponds, rivers, and marshes.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationWidespread, Stable and common
MigrationMigratory
Weight91.2 Ounces